


With warm lips, and cold hands

by rikotan



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mention of blood, Minor Character Death, Mutant Powers, past! yutoyama, violence in fight scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:07:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21870547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rikotan/pseuds/rikotan
Summary: The world was ending due to pollution, mutation is happening to everything.Animals and plants are starting to mutate and become dangerous creatures. Humans are also mutating, with some developing powers to fend off creatures. Humans as a whole are also having a changed physical ability. Many start to develop special abilities.All Takaki wants out of this life is to continue living until his time ends. What he doesn't expect to happen is to start carrying a painting around, trying to get the other man out of it.
Relationships: Nakajima Yuto/Takaki Yuya, Nakajima Yuto/Yamada Ryosuke
Comments: 12
Kudos: 11
Collections: JUMPing Fic Carnival 2019





	With warm lips, and cold hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [takajima](https://archiveofourown.org/users/takajima/gifts).



> Hi takajima, I’m not sure if this is what you meant when you asked for “A tries to rescue B from a painting” but I hope you enjoy it nevertheless. 
> 
> Thanks to M for beta-ing.
> 
> Title from Utada Hikaru’s Boukyaku

**Year 3X19**

He doesn’t remember how long he had been living like this. Roars and cries of mutated animals and plants can be heard just around the corner. Nowhere is exactly safe; just safer, relative to even more dangerous areas.

Takaki wipes the sweat off his face, not caring that he is far from being clean. His stomach is growling and he cannot remember the last time he actually _felt_ satiated.

Earth is a warped place to live in right now, not that anyone has found out how to move everyone out of it and start a nomadic life out in the galaxy. It has been a few centuries since everything changed. 

Takaki remembers how everything became like this from the stories his mother told him. Or at least what little she can tell him before she lost her life to protect him from a mutated snake. 

_(To Takaki, it was just a normal snake. He can’t wrap his head around the fact that before the mutation, centuries ago on Earth, snakes technically didn’t grow up to ten stories tall. Nor did they eat up humans in just one bite.)_

That was when he awakened his powers as a Moment. As the environment changed, with radioactive waste everywhere, it wasn’t just the animals and plants that mutated. Humans mutated too, albeit slower than the previous two, resulting in a huge decline in the human population. 

“Once, the world was so packed with people that the roads of Shinjuku were filled with pedestrians and cars,” Takaki remembers his mother telling him. He also knows that the Shinjuku of the present is far from being _packed_. It is littered with debris and mutated animals prowling the area, waiting for their next prey. He only managed to take a peek before leaving quickly, knowing that it is a Red Zone, as it is one of the areas that have the most death. Awakens who are no less than level three would never go in there unless their mission is to commit suicide. 

As humans mutate, they awaken powers that were once upon a time thought of as fantasy. It is their reality now, as they are called ‘Awakens’ as a group. They are then sorted into different categories based on their powers. Those who can control natural elements, such as fire, water, earth, air, metal, electricity and grass are called ‘Elementals’. Others who can control the mind in different ways and scale, like creating illusions or controlling items with their minds, are called ‘Psychics’. The last group of people are those who can control time and space, those who are called ‘Moments’. 

Amongst all the groups of Awakens, Moments are the most mysterious group of people as not much is known about them. They are also the smallest group of Awakens, followed by Psychics, then Elementals. 

The world has a weird way of balancing itself. Not all animals and plants mutate to be harmful, and this applies to humans as well. Not everyone will become Awakens, although humanity as a whole became stronger to resist the environment that they are living in.

Looking out of the makeshift tent he put up in a hurry, Takaki looks up at the red sky, not understanding how legend says that the sky was once blue. The sky pushes low, high humidity and high temperature make it uncomfortable but Takaki is used to it. 

“Where should I go next?” He murmurs to himself as he pulls his bag open, checking on his current food stash. He is running low and should really start to forage for food, and maybe get a nicer shelter so he can rest for a week. 

Stretching his limbs, Takaki comes out of his temporary shelter, carrying his bag. Putting on his goggles he looks out into the barren land that they call home. It isn’t like there aren’t any civilization on Earth anymore. There _are_ safe havens littered around, but sometimes being alone is even safer than being part of a community in such an era where law and order are second to survival. 

And Takaki has experienced those horrors of a community first-hand. 

Clenching his fist, he tries to shake away those painful memories as he sets out on his mission to find new shelter as a new day begins. 

* * *

Coughing, Takaki pulls the scarf covering his mouth down. It isn’t like there is a lot of dirt in the air. For all he knows, nature is thriving so much more than before the world plunged down into this deep shit. However, dust covers each and every inch of these old buildings and the lost items of the past. 

The air is mouldy and stuffy, but it’s still better than being outside without proper coverage. It’s safer here, for him to be hidden from any mutated animals that can be prowling just around the corner.

Looking around, Takaki marvels about how people in the past actually _lived here_. 

Most of the high-rise buildings are dilapidated, and he knows better than to go in there because no one knows when they will just give way and collapse.

_(He has seen buildings reaching so high up into the sky collapsing right in front of him, and that was after seeing other foragers entering it.)_

“Hopefully there will be useful things inside,” Takaki mumbles under his breath. 

It’s a cosy home, with stairs leading up to the second floor. Everything is covered in dust, but there isn’t any clutter to be seen. Takaki frowns at that, reaching out for his dagger that is sheathed on his back. In his mind, he quickly thinks of the possible dangers.

_‘Animals? No, it’s too tidy for there to be any animals.’_

_‘Other foragers? Doesn’t look like there’s anyone else around.’_ Takaki looks down at the floor, making sure that there’s only one set of dusty footprints on the ground. 

_‘Why is it so clean?’_ Takaki thought to himself. 

Shaking off the eerie feeling in his gut, he continues to go deeper into the house, passing by what was probably the living room.

Everything is covered in dust: the furniture, decorations, and even the carpet. But Takaki can still imagine how homey everything was in the past, like how the owners enjoyed their lives together. He sees cameras _(or what he thinks those are called, no one uses those things anymore since they don’t help with fighting)_ lined up in a cabinet, and also pots that probably once contained plants propped up along the window sill. 

A few photo frames are lined up on the cabinet, but most of the photos are faded due to constant exposure to the sun _(as well as time)_. Takaki can make out the frame of two men of differing heights, but their features were bleached with time. Seeing how close they are and that the photo is even framed up in the first place, the two of them must be very close, Takaki muses. 

He likes to see how living in the past was like, and this is one reason why he always tries to find shelter in these ancient buildings. He knows how other foragers don’t do this, seeing that there isn’t much point with no edible food left to find _(even ancient canned food wouldn’t be edible after a few hundred years)_ . But Takaki likes to have a few days to rest, and these houses keep his things safe while he goes out to hunt. Besides, he can forage extra knives from these ancient dwelling spots since most of them have kitchens and would have a knife or two _(though it would all depend on his luck if they’ve been foraged by others)_. 

“Are you the owner of this house?” A voice suddenly resounds through the living room, and Takaki let out a hoarse yell, jumping up onto a chair.

He hears a loud creak from under him, and Takaki swears that he is really lucky that the chair did not disintegrate under his weight. 

“Ah, I scared you didn’t I?” The voice continues, an obvious tinge of laughter in his voice. 

Frantically looking around, Takaki scampers across the living room, trying to get away from the source of the voice. The chair tumbles down, as well as various decorations falling from where they have been placed for the longest time and breaking into pieces in the wake of Takaki’s escape.

“Ouch, you shouldn’t break those,” Takaki can almost hear the frown in the tone and a shiver runs up his spine.

“Who are you?” Takaki’s voice croaks. He can’t remember when was the last time he actually spoke out loud to someone other than himself. His voice is hoarse from the lack of water, and he gulps his saliva down, an action he does when he is nervous.

_(He is not going to admit that he is afraid of ghosts when he is a survivor of the end of the world._

_Monsters roam the land, and he can fend them off. But something unseen and untouchable? Takaki doesn’t want to think about them.)_

“I’m Nakajima Yuto. Nice to meet you!” The voice chirps, before continuing shortly, “I don’t think I’ve seen anyone for a long time.” 

At this point, Takaki is counting from one to ten, back and forth, in an effort to calm himself down. “Alright, Nakajima,” he replies. If this Nakajima Yuto is a ghost, at the very least, he isn’t a vengeful ghost, seeing that he hasn’t attacked him.

“Where are you?” 

Looking around, Takaki tries to see if anything is moving or if there are anything that hints that someone, supernatural or not, is there. 

“I’m beside you.” 

Takaki screeches.

Backing up as fast as he can, he sees the man in the painting hung up on the wall moving. The man (Nakajima?) blinks at him before smiling and waving at him. 

“You–!” Before Takaki can continue his sentence, a heavy thud comes from the door. It is closely followed by another, and then more. 

The next thing Takaki knows, mutated dogs are barking and breaking into the old house after the centuries-old door falls apart. 

“Shit,” Takaki spat, as he pulls out a dagger, poised to sprint into action at any time. 

Mutated dogs are one of the most common mutated animals, other than mutated cats. These canines are like wolves centuries back, except with deadlier teeth that can bite through steel and even faster reflexes. 

However, they are nothing he can’t deal with. Mutated dogs are only a pain to survivors due to their pack mentality. Seeing five mutated dogs coming through the door, Takaki can only thank any gods, if they are even still there, that he is only met with a small pack of mutated dogs. 

Although they are easier to fight as compared to other mutated animals, having to fight more than one at any time can be painfully annoying and dangerous for a person that travels alone. 

He easily twirls his dagger with his fingers, flinging it towards the nearest mutated dog. Without missing, it hits straight in the middle of its head, taking all its life force with that blow. 

“Be careful!” He can hear Yuto shout from his back, and when Takaki turns around, he realizes that there are two more mutated dogs that came in after breaking the window. The mutation did not just make the animals bigger and more furious, but also made them more intelligent. 

Just when Yuto started to gasp, with the mutated dog so close to biting into Takaki’s arm, everything around Takaki came to a slow down. 

The mutated dog can be seen moving backwards, not voluntarily, but like its time was flowing back before it jumped towards Takaki. It is then that Takaki whips out another knife from his jacket and stabs it through the eye, delivering the final blow. 

This continues to happen: time seems to flow backwards when an attack is about to land on Takaki. 

Everything in the house is almost destroyed after Takaki finishes the last mutated dog. The glass pieces of the photo frames lie on the floor, some of the photos fell out of the frames and were trampled during the fight. The decorations and couch are damaged, and the once homey living room is destroyed. 

“Everything’s gone.” Yuto’s voice cracks a little. Takaki looks at the man and sees a confused expression on his face. He figures that Yuto is sad, though that doesn’t explain the confusion. 

“Are you alright?”

“I… don’t know,” Yuto replies, looking at Takaki across the living room. He moves around in the painting, before settling down on the chair that is painted with him. He looks up again at Takaki in more confusion. “Are you in a painting? Why are you fighting huge dogs in my painting?”

Takaki stares back in equal confusion. “You are the one in the painting.” He pauses a while before cursing, “To hell with that, aren’t you supposed to be a painting? Why are you even moving and talking?” 

Plopping himself down on the damaged couch, Takaki decides that if he is going to have to talk to a painting he better be sitting down and resting, especially since he had just finished fighting off a pack of seven mutated dogs. He needs to catch his breath back. 

“Me? A painting?” Yuto tilts his head to the side, “But I’m real.” 

“I’m real as well. Have you tried to get out of your ‘house’?” Takaki gestures with his fingers, suggesting that the space Yuto is in isn’t real. 

He is met with a frown, followed by Yuto moving out of the frame of the painting _(which freaks out Takaki even more but he bites down on his tongue to stop himself from screaming and attracting more mutated animals)_. 

When Yuto appears in the frame once again, his expression is dazed.

“Are you alright?” Takaki asks for the second time after meeting Yuto.

Yuto shakes his head. “I can’t go outside.” 

“Well, obviously you can’t. The space you are in is probably just that room. Why didn’t you even try going out in the first place?” Takaki questions, not understanding how can this man not know that he is a painting in the first place _(or at least stuck in a painting)_.

Yuto frowns, “I don’t know. I just know not to go outside. It hasn’t been that long though, right?” He moves towards Takaki, placing his hand on the frame in his own space. Pushing slightly, he feels a force pushing him back into the room.

“What year are you living in? It’s 3X19 already.” At this point, he is almost sure that Yuto is a person stuck in another dimension that only exists in the painting, though why can’t he come out is another question.

“What?” He sees Yuto freezing in position. 

“What do you mean it has been centuries? I thought it was just a few weeks ago since the first successful survivor Awakened?” Yuto frowns again. “But I can’t remember why I’m like this. Am I really stuck in this painting?” 

Takaki gets back up on his feet, moving towards Yuto. “I guess someone locked you up in the painting. Maybe time works differently in the space you are trapped in.” His eyes dart to the edge of the painting, spotting a cursive ‘Y’ signed there. 

“Maybe someone trapped you in the painting you drew of yourself, it’s signed with a Y down here and your name is Yuto,” Takaki figures, pointing to the signature. 

Yuto can only nod in agreement. “I don’t remember anything. I can’t remember how I got stuck in here.” 

“What do you remember though?” Takaki prompts him. “Maybe you can start to find your memories from where you last remember?”

Yuto shakes his head. “I can’t even get out of the painting, how can I go out to find my memories?” He gives Takaki a sad smile as he plops down to sit on the floor. 

“I can bring you around.” The offer comes out before Takaki can stop himself. Blinking at what he just said, Takaki nods, as if affirming what had just slipped out of his mouth. “I can carry your painting around and try to find a way to get you out of there. There are a lot of Awakens now that can definitely help you.” 

“You’d help me?” A smile slowly creeps up Yuto’s lips, his body inching closer to where Takaki is.

“Sure, I’ll carry you on my back.” Moving closer, Takaki reaches out to lift the painting off the wall.

“Wow, everything is moving in here!” Yuto exclaims, further supporting the fact that he is, in fact, stuck in a painting. 

“We need to find something to secure you to my back,” Takaki puts Yuto _(the painting)_ back down on the floor before rummaging around the house for something useful. “Hopefully there’s a rope or something somewhere.” 

Yuto looks on with a fond smile as Takaki starts to roam around the house trying to find a way to bring him along. 

* * *

“Does this count as a piggyback?” Yuto chirps as he looks around with great interest. The world is different from what little memories he has. 

“In some way, I feel more like I’m a tortoise than giving you a piggyback ride,” Takaki grumbles, seeing that he’s carrying Yuto and his whole different dimension room on his back. Hefting the painting on his back, Takaki tries to stop his bag from sliding down his shoulder where it hangs in front of him.

They end up finding ropes in the house, and Takaki manages to tie Yuto onto his back. Both of them thought it was a good idea until they are ambushed by mutated rats a month later. 

“Ah!” Yuto’s scream from the back almost makes Takaki drop his dagger, only to turn back and see a rat trying to bite into the frame of the painting. He quickly dodges to the side, slashing the dagger across the rat’s eyes to blind it. 

“Quick, there’s another one on my right, I mean on your left!” Yuto exclaims, and Takaki has to look to the right first before turning left because of Yuto’s confusion. 

Kicking the rat away and slashing it, Takaki can’t help but roll his eyes. “Your instructions are bad!” Another punch is thrown, putting distance between Takaki and another rat. “Just keep quiet while you’re on my back!”

Yuto nods, though he has totally forgotten that Takaki cannot see him at all. Not that Takaki minds, since he gets a few minutes of silence while he fends off the mutated rat.

Until Yuto breaks into a loud screech.

Instead of turning back to see what is happening, Takaki just jumps up high on the spot, visibly shaken by Yuto’s sudden scream. “Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick!” Yuto just rants on, unable to properly convey what he wants to say to Takaki at this point. 

Turning around, Takaki is met with a mutated rat that is twice as big as the ones he had just fended off. Exchanging blows lets Takaki realize that this mutated rat is on a different level compared to those he was previously fighting.

Faster, stronger, and much bigger. In fact, it is probably more intelligent as well, seeing as it knows that attacking Yuto is better than attacking Takaki because Yuto can’t fight back. 

Like what happened in the house before, right when Yuto thinks that his frame is going to be bitten down, he sees the rat moving backwards, and Takaki quickly slashing his dagger at the rat. After a few blows and making sure that there are no longer any other living creatures other than the two of them, Takaki lets out a huff before sitting down, totally ignoring that the ground is tainted by blood _(from both himself and the many dead rats)_. 

“You are an Awakened, aren’t you?” Yuto finds himself asking Takaki.

Takaki has untied the ropes, propping the painting against an abandoned car along the road they are on. Still catching his breath, Takaki just nods in reply.

“You …” Yuto frowns a little, trying to find the right words to use. “You can turn back time?” There is a hint of hesitation in his voice, not knowing what Takaki’s powers are. 

This time, Takaki nods again, before he elaborates, “I can turn back the time of something in general. Though I can only go back up to about a year now.” 

Twisting his lips, Takaki looks at his fingers and started counting. “I think I’m around level 2 as an Awakened?”

Yuto nods, before shaking his head. “Level 2?”

“Ah.” Takaki looks at Yuto knowingly. “You didn’t have levels back then when the first person awakened.” He picks up his dagger and started to handle the dead rats. These are the rare times that he can stock up on meat, even more so when it has been a while since his encounter with the mutated dogs back at Yuto’s house.

While cutting up the rats for their meat and skin, Takaki explains to Yuto how Awakens are divided into their powers, something that was done only after 50 years since the first Awakened. Yuto listens in interest, amazed that the population is now filled with at least 30% Awakened and 70% of normal people, something that didn’t seem possible according to what little memory he had. 

He then explained that each Awakened is then ranked by levels, which shows how powerful an Awakened is. There are currently 10 levels, and with each level, their powers grow exponentially. 

“So in short, you put objects back in time up to a year now?” Yuto concludes.

Packing the meat and skin into a bag specially prepared, Takaki nods. “Up to that point, their time will continue to go forward for a year until they reach the time that I used my powers on them.”

“And then?” Yuto prompts, curious in his eyes.

“And then they will go back to whatever state they were in when I used my powers on them.” 

As if to show his point, he pulls out a broken dagger and used his powers on it.

Yuto can see it being mended back together, and soon, it was like new. The part where it was broken is gone. “Wow.” Yuto can’t help but look at Takaki in awe.

“And then after a year, this dagger will break again.”

“And you can mend it back together?” Yuto chirps in reply. If that is the case, this power is really useful, especially when weapons are increasingly hard to come by as the apocalypse continues. 

However, Takaki’s answer is negative. “By then it’s been another year since the dagger is broken, and I can only turn back time up to a year. Even though it goes back to its original state one year back, its time is still continuing.” He pauses with a thoughtful look. “Unless I level up before that time comes. I think I can go up to 5 years on my next level.” 

“How do you even level up?” Yuto tilts his head to the side.

Digging around his bag, Takaki pulls out a stone that is around the size of a thumbnail. “This is a low-grade energy stone.” As Takaki turns it around, Yuto can vaguely see it being stained in blood.

“They are from…”

A nod. “Yeap, they are from mutated animals.” Clenching his fist, a dim shade of purple light can be seen seeping through the cracks of his fingers. “Awakens can absorb the energy within these energy stones to increase their power.” 

When Takaki once again opens his fist, the energy stone is now gone. 

“Of course, we can level up naturally by using our energy constantly, but that is a longer process than absorbing energy stones.” 

“So the harder the mutated animals are to defeat, the higher their energy stones are?” Yuto asks, and Takaki just nods in reply. 

Raising a small fire and roasting meat, Takaki quickly finishes his dinner while Yuto watches on in the confines of his painting. “We’ll move out again when dawn breaks.”

“Go to sleep, I’ll wake you up if anything approaches,” Yuto suggests. 

“You sure?” Takaki raises an eyebrow at the man.

“Go on,” Yuto nods. “I can try to fend them off first before I wake you up.” He suggests, doing a few martial arts poses and doing a back-kick. 

“I don’t think any damage will hit them from across dimensions, Nakajima,” Takaki replies with a deadpan expression.

“Not one for a joke, huh.” Yuto chuckles. “Go rest. I think the time flow in my space is different, so I don’t have to sleep yet. And you were protecting me while fending the rats off earlier. I never got to say thank you.” 

With only the small fire lighting up the area, Yuto can’t be sure if Takaki started to blush. But before he can confirm his suspicions, the man turned away. “Sure, just wake me up if you need me,” he says, before turning his back on Yuto and lying down on the ground.

With only an abandoned car to block the oncoming wind and the weirdly sweltering night temperature, Takaki feels that this might be one of the best sleep he has ever had since his mother died. 

* * *

It has been a few years _(one? Maybe two and a bit more?)_ since they’ve met each other, with Takaki carrying Yuto’s frame on his back as he travels to each new area he forages and hunts in. 

“Do you ever think that I’ll get out, Yuyan?” Yuto’s voice paints a stark contrast to the eerily quiet night _(save for the crackling of firewood that is burning to keep Takaki warm)_. 

This is something that they don’t talk about often. Avoiding it makes it easier to accept that they are separated by time and space. Sometimes, they forget about it, trying to reach out for the other only to feel the cold, hard frame under their hands instead of warm and soft skin. 

Silence reigns between them.

“... I don’t know.” 

It’s the truth, and it sounds as if Takaki has to choke it out, trying to deny it until he realizes that he has to accept the fact. 

_He doesn’t know._

From where they met, both of them travelled to many different prefectures. They’ve met different people, asked for their opinions and ideas. 

They’ve tried many ways _(shaking the frame around seeing if Yuto will just magically drop out of the painting, or even putting it over a fire in which Yuto just comments that the space feels a little too warm for comfort)_ , but nothing seems to work out. 

Throughout their journey, fighting was common. It was just the two of them, and as the mutated animals got smarter, they were more likely to attack smaller groups. That worked for them since Takaki needed energy stones to level up his powers. 

Takaki even tried to put the extra energy stones that he got near Yuto to see if its energy will help break Yuto out of his two-dimensional state but to no avail. 

All this time through their travel, it was rise-rinse-repeat. With every suggestion and idea they get, their hopes quietly soar. And with every failed attempt, both of their hearts sink a bit. 

They keep quiet for a while, not knowing what to say to the other. 

_(No matter what they say, they both know that it’s just empty promises and a futile attempt at consolation.)_

Yuto lets out a soft laugh, “Well, one step at a time I guess?” He moves his hand over to place it on the frame that separates them from two different dimensions. Takaki sees his movement and follows suit. 

Their palms overlap each other, and they can only think about the _what-ifs_.

_(What if they weren’t separated by space?_

_What if their fingers can intertwine with the others?_

_What if their lips can touch the soft and warm skin of the other?_

_What if?)_

* * *

How many years has it been? Neither Yuto nor Takaki can remember.

It feels like just yesterday that Takaki brought Yuto down from the wall of the house and started carrying him around on his back.

They’ve travelled places, and Takaki went from jumping when Yuto screams “Monster!” to reacting quickly by throwing a dagger at wherever Yuto is facing. 

Things changed, they both didn’t realise when exactly the changes happened.

Whenever Takaki passes a river, he would wet a cloth and wipe the frame of Yuto’s painting. It’s a cloth specially for that purpose. 

When he rests, Yuto would be awake, his gaze never leaving the man. They don’t realize how their gaze will soften at the sight of the other, or how their smile turns soft when the other isn’t looking. 

They can’t remember how many years it has been, but Takaki has slowly grown to become a Level 10 Awakened, being able to turn back time by centuries. 

“We’re back here,” Yuto smiles fondly as Takaki places him on the floor, propping him up against the wall. 

Here they are, back to where they met each other so many years back.

Looking at how everything remained clattered, messy and broken, Takaki remembers how he thought Yuto was a ghost. “You scared me back then,” he fondly recalls. He has never said it out loud, but Takaki never would’ve thought that the person who he thought was a ghost would end up taking up an important place in his heart.

_(A spot that was left empty ever since his last family member passed on from this world.)_

“You’ve improved so much from all the scare though!” Yuto chuckles, fondly remembering how the other man jumped onto a chair when he first called him out. The years he spent going around with Takaki made him see even more sides of the man.

The side he has when he’s seriously fighting to protect them both. 

The side he has when he actually jokes back to him.

The side he has when he wipes down his frame gently.

Pulling up a mask over his face, Takaki stretches his arms before asking Yuto, “So, should I put this whole place to how it was?” 

After many years of venturing to different places, meeting people and trying to get Yuto out of the painting, they can only come back with no results. 

“Sure, I guess it was once my house at one point.” Yuto shrugs, gesturing for Takaki to go ahead with magic.

_(When they couldn’t find a solution after so many years, both of them decided that they should find a place to settle down._

_“What about where you met me?” Yuto suggested back then. Takaki quickly agreed, seeing that it is somewhere special to both of them._

_It’s the place that was miraculously untouched by the world._

_It’s the place that led him to Yuto.)_

A dim light covers Takaki’s hand, and Yuto can see the still air around them slowly gathering in the middle of Takaki’s palm. No matter how many times he sees this, Yuto will always be amazed. 

Dust is being swirled up into the air, disappearing quickly.

The broken glasses starts to float, coming closer to each other and mending together like they once were. The photo frames quickly fly back to where they once were, before being knocked down during the fight Takaki had with mutated dogs several years back. 

But Takaki doesn’t stop there. 

He hasn’t tried using his powers to his limit after passing level 5, so he has no idea how long back in time can he go. 

The last time he tried, it was 50 years. 

“Woah!” He hears Yuto’s voice, before seeing a shadow fly past him and towards the wall. 

“Yuto!” Takaki can’t remember when they started to be on a first-name basis, but they are and the closeness always warms his heart.

“Don’t worry! I’m okay, Yuya!” He hears Yuto reply, vaguely seeing the other man waving for him not to worry. 

Yuto’s painting is back on the wall like years back. It confuses Takaki since the time he is turning back was the house’s time, but it also makes sense since this is Yuto’s house.

But before he can think about anything else, a loud thud echoes in the room. 

Takaki’s eyes widen as his powers come to its limit.

The whole room is as new as it was centuries before, and right before him is Yuto, in the same dimension and space, body and flesh. 

“Y-Yuto?” Takaki can hear his voice quivering, unable to believe his eyes.

He slowly walks over to the other man who is still crouching on the floor, with the same disbelief in his eyes. “Yuya? I’m… out?”

Takaki nods, reaching out to touch Yuto’s cheeks. He can feel Yuto leaning into his touch.

Soft. 

Warm. 

It’s what he has always imagined it to be, but better. They are finally not being separated by a different dimension. 

However, before they can say anything else, Yuto lets out a painful yelp before collapsing into Takaki’s arms.

“Yuto!” Takaki shakes the other man a little. 

He can see Yuto breaking out in cold sweat. “Hey, are you okay?” His fingers tenderly wipe them away, holding Yuto closer in his arms. He can see Yuto’s eyes zoning out like he is seeing things that are far away. He can feel Yuto shivering in his arms, his expression twisting in a pain that Takaki can’t feel for him. 

Carrying the man in his arms, Takaki brings him to the couch, letting Yuto lie down against the soft cushion. Standing up again, he turns to reach out for his backpack to fish out a clean cloth to wipe Yuto down.

And that’s when his eyes set upon the once broken photo frames and he freezes on the spot. 

The photographs that were once faded are now in full colour like how they once were so long ago. And Takaki can now see the features of the two men in the photograph clearly. 

Smiling blissfully in there, the taller man has his arm across the shorter’s shoulders, their faces close and their fingers intertwined. 

Takaki inhales a deep breath, unable to tear his eyes away from the photograph.

The taller man in the photograph is Yuto. 

* * *

Yuto can hear Takaki calling out to him, but he can’t muster enough energy to give him a reply. His head is in pain. Everything hurts. 

There are suddenly so many images appearing in his mind, flooding him with emotions that were once sealed up deep inside him along with his memories. 

He remembers living together with another man, someone he cares for very deeply. The fluffy and warm feeling he had when they were together let Yuto _know_ that the other was very important to him.

He sees the fleeting images of them hugging, exchanging kisses. Or even doing very simple things like cooking and fending off mutated animals to protect their home. 

Yuto can feel a tear running down his cheek. He feels like he is drowning in all these emotions that have been locked away for too long. 

He remembers the other man painting a portrait of him. He remembers them Awakening powers. 

Yuto remembers everything now. 

“Yama,” Yuto croaks, his eyes unfocused. It feels like he hasn’t talked for the longest time.

As his tears continue to roll, he turns to see Takaki freezing up beside him. He feels Takaki’s hand tightening his hold on his hand, before slowly letting go. 

And that scares Yuto. 

With however little energy he has left, he grabs on tightly to Takaki’s hand. “Yuya.” He shakes his head, eyes looking at Takaki pleadingly.

“Did you…” Takaki starts. He feels like something is stuck in his throat. “Did you get your memories back?” 

Yuto nods in reply, before trying to sit up. Takaki helps him up, and when Yuto pulls his hand for him to sit beside him, he follows. 

“I don’t know how to explain everything.” Yuto fiddles with Takaki’s fingers, eyes traced on their hands that are locked together. Takaki doesn’t speak, knowing that the other man needed time to orientate his thoughts before he can tell him what happened. 

It takes Yuto awhile, and the first thing he tells Takaki is that he is an Awakened as well. 

“I can make a space that is completely protected from the world,” Yuto explains. “I was trapped in the space that I made.” Takaki can hear the sarcasm and sadness in the other man’s voice.

“Yama…” Trailing off, Yuto took a deep breath before continuing. “His name is Yamada Ryosuke. He was my boyfriend.” 

Takaki notes that Yuto has a sadly fond smile on his lips. “Was?” He realizes that Yuto used the past tense.

He nods in reply, “He’s gone. Centuries ago, he’s gone.” 

Takaki doesn’t know how to comfort the other man, other than giving Yuto’s hand a squeeze of encouragement, urging Yuto to continue.

Yuto explains that they promised each other that when there’s an emergency, both of them would hide into the space that Yuto crafted out. However, Yamada knew that Yuto’s powers were not strong enough to hold both of them in that safe space for a long time. 

When they were surrounded by mutated animals, Yamada had tricked Yuto into hiding in the space that he created in the portrait Yamada painted of him. 

_“You’ll have to go in to create that space before you can bring me in, silly.” Yamada had given Yuto a push, giving his boyfriend a fond smile._

_Roars and barks were heard from outside. Fighting had already started with the other survivors. But both of them didn’t have combat-ready powers, so the most logical action was for them to hide until the coast was clear._

_“Fine,” Yuto shrugged, a dim azure light covers his hand, and with a flick of his wrist, an entrance to the space he created in the painting appeared before them. “Come on, let’s go.”_

_However, all he felt was a push from behind, and the entrance started to close. “Yama!” Yuto looked on in horror, trying with all his might to keep the entrance open long enough for Yamada to come in._

_“Don’t even try. Both of us wouldn’t make it if I went in there as well.” Yamada laughed, looking at Yuto with all his feelings brimming from his eyes. “I can’t let that happen. At least you should live.”_

_Shaking his head vigorously, Yuto tried to get back on his feet quickly. “No, no, no, no, no! Ryosuke, no!” He was so close to reaching the entrance, to reaching Yamada._

_“It’s okay, Yuto. You’ll forget everything. You’ll come out once it’s safe.” Yamada reached out his hand, wanting to touch Yuto for the last time. But before Yuto can reach out to him and pull him in, Yamada pulled away._

_Dim red light engulfed Yuto’s body and Yuto felt like he was being hugged by Yamada. It’s as if all the heat was being sucked straight from Yamada’s body. Tears escaped his eyes as he looked on at his boyfriend from a different dimension._

_“Don’t cry, Yutti.” Yamada carefully caressed Yuto’s painting. Yuto didn’t have enough power right now to open another entrance, and that’s something both of them knew. “Forget about me. You will find someone who will be with you and protect you. Continue living and be happy, that’s what I want you to have.”_

_Yuto let out a feral scream as he saw Yamada’s body slowly disappearing in front of him. He could hear the roars outside disappearing, hear the mutated animals going away. He could hear the victorious cries of joy from the other survivours._

_The last thing he saw was Yamada placing a kiss on the painting._

_A goodbye kiss._

_“Goodbye, Yutti. I love you. Be happy.”_

Takaki’s firm grip on his hand is like Yuto’s anchor to reality. It takes Yuto a few deep breaths to calm down from the memories. 

“We didn’t know how far our powers can go back then. There were no levels.” Yuto pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to stop the headache still lingering as an aftereffect of his memories coming back. 

“So Yamada,” Takaki pauses for a while, letting this common yet unfamiliar family name roll out of his tongue. “He burned away his life force to change the memories of the mutated animals, that’s why they all retreated.”

Yuto inhales deeply before nodding. “On top of that, he sealed my memories away. So that I wouldn’t do something stupid.”

He knows why Yamada did what he did. If things continued the way they initially planned, it was only a matter of time that the mutated animals would maul a road through the combatant survivors and reach them. 

A sacrifice was needed, and Yamada willingly did that. 

For him. 

“How did your memories return then?” Takaki questions. He remembers that all he did was turn back the time of the house. The next thing he knew, Yuto appeared in front of him. 

He looks back to the painting of Yuto that Yamada painted. He can see how much Yamada loved Yuto, seeing that all the small details of the man are being portrayed in the painting. They were wrong all this time. The letter Y signed at the corner did not stand for Yuto. 

It stands for Yamada. 

“Your powers can turn back the time of the painting,” Yuto stated. “And also turned back _my_ time.”

He only came to this conclusion when he remembers how the painting went flying back onto the wall. Takaki’s powers probably cancelled his dimensional powers, erasing it from happening, which caused the space he created to disappear, thus freeing him from the painting. 

Before he regained his memories, Yuto felt as if something snapped in his head before all the memories started to return to him in waves. 

“Like how your powers erased my powers from happening.” Yuto rubs his thumb unconsciously against the back of Takaki’s palm. “It erased Yama’s powers as well.” 

Takaki’s eyes widened, not believing that his powers have such an effect. “But when time continues, do you think you will…” _forget everything again?_ Those last few words of the question, Takaki can’t bear to even voice out. 

What if Yuto forgets again?

Will it just be Yamada?

Or will Yuto forget him as well? 

Shaking his head, Yuto gives Takaki a sad smile. “That shouldn’t happen anymore. I might get back into the painting hundreds of years later, but I wouldn’t be losing my memories again.”

Takaki doesn’t understand.

“You’ll need the person whose powers are used for it to be activated again. If I’m still alive, I will get back into that space but I will be able to come out again. But Yama…” Yuto trails off.

Takaki suddenly understands.

“So my memories will be intact from now on.” Yuto smiles, and as if using all his courage, he intertwines their fingers together. 

Takaki knows Yuto’s unasked questions, the unsaid feelings. Something that both of them kept to themselves over these years as an open secret. 

“I can’t _win_ against him,” Takaki states. He knows fully well that Yamada will continue to stay in Yuto’s heart no matter what. And he fully understands and doesn’t mind.

He deserves that special spot.

He _literally_ earned it with his life. 

Even Takaki himself is thankful for Yamada. If it weren’t for him, he would’ve never met Yuto at all _(not just that Yuto might perish during that attack, but also they are centuries apart)_.

“You don’t have to.” Yuto’s answer to this is simple. “Yama is Yama, I’ll never forget him. But he told me to live a happy life, and I’m happy with my life now.”

Chuckling, Yuto teasingly pokes Takaki on the chest. “You’ve been making me happy.” 

Nothing will replace Yamada in his heart, but there are more special places that can be made. And Yuto has already made one for Takaki all those years back. 

Even with his memories back, that doesn’t change. 

“Hmm,” Takaki hums and nods, leaning to rest his forehead against Yuto’s. “Then we shall live a happy life. Can’t let Yamada down on that one right?” 

“Right,” Yuto whispers as he leans in to finally touch Takaki’s warm lips. 


End file.
